Rotating or oscillating drum



7 July 7, 1936. JQNSSON 2,046,685

ROTATING OR OSCILLATING DRUM Filed March 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTORI AUGU6TINUS EDVARD J q BY JQNSSON 95 I We) Q1? ATTORNEYJ July 7, 1936. E, JQNSSON 7 2,046,685

ROTATING OR OSGILLATING DRUM Filed March 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR AUGUSTINUS EDVARD J .BY IJ mi Z ATTdRNL-ZYS Patented July 7, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application March 29, 1935, Serial No. 13,596

- In Sweden December 29, 1934 3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in rotating or oscillating drums for drying, heating or cooling grainy or powdered materials, such as malt, grain, flour and similar materials, and

-1more particularly to drums of said kind, wherein a heating or cooling medium is passed through hollow, longitudinal direction of the drum.

The main object of the invention is to develop such an arrangement of said shelf-like elements that an increased charge can be introduced into the drum, without danger for certain parts of the charge being prevented from participating in the stirring motions that are necessary for a perfect utilization of the drum and are effected by the rotating or oscillating motion of the drum.

In practice it has namely proved to be very diflicult to arrange such shelves in a manner as to obtain the best possible cooling or heating effect and at the same time keep the shelves out of the path of the material when this is tipped over during the motion of the drum. There are also difliculties connected with the arrangement of the shelves with regard to the introduction and ;,,removal of the material into and out of the drum in a ready manner, if it is necessary at the same time to pay attention to both of the above mentioned questions of cooling or heating and the stirring motion.

The drum improved in accordance with this invention has proved to work very satisfactorily in all of three aforementioned respects, and the main characteristic novel features of the invention consist therein that a part of the shelf-like elements are arranged in one or several rows concentric with the circumference of the drum,

and another part of the elements in one or several rows that are perpendicular or inclined in relation to said circumference and directed to- .Wards or substantially towards the center of the drum, the elements being besides arranged to provide a free diametrical feed channel in the charging position of the drum.

According to an embodiment of the invention 5 the elements are so arranged that each of the elements either obtains a short extension in the peripheral direction or is crossed by transverse channels of flow for the material if the elements have a greater extension'in said direction.

50 Two embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is an elevation, partly in section along the line I-I in Fig. 2, of a drum according to 55' the invention, particularly intended for cooling shelf-like elements extending in the malt during germination. Fig. 2 is a cross-section along the line IIII in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an elevation, partly in section along the line III-III in Fig. 4, of a drum suitable for drying grain, flour, malt and similar materials. 5

Fig. 4'. is a cross-section along the line IV-IV in Fig. 3.

With reference to Figs. 1 and 2, I designates the double-walled shell of the drum, and 2 and 3 designate the double-walled heads of the drum. 10 Between the heads 2 and 3 shelf-like elements 4 and 5 are extended, said elements being hollow and adapted for the passage of a suitable cooling medium which is also conducted between the double walls of the shell and the heads. The 15 cooling medium is supplied by the conduit 6 leading through a tubular attachment 1 secured to an extra cover-plate 8 arranged in some distance from the double-walled head 2. From the conduit 6 the cooling medium enters into a space 20 9 between the two walls of the. head 2, and from there it is distributed to the different shelf-like elements 4 and 5 and'is thereupon conducted 5 through the space l0 between the walls of the head 3 into the jacket room II, from where the cooling medium -is'led off by the tubes l2 and I3 and the tube 3|.

In the tubular attachment 1 there is also provided a suction conduit communicating on one side with the space l9 between the headZ and plate 8 and on the other side with the suction pump l4 driven by a motor l5 or in some other way. In the plate 8 there is provided a number of valves l6 that are distributed along the circumference and cooperate with a corresponding number of ports or'channels l'l (if desired provided with strainers) in the head 2 in such a manner that the valves are opened by means of cam members l8 when the valves are in such a position that the material treated is lying below 40 the valves.

By this arrangement air, carbon dioxide, steam or other gases entering or formed in the drum may be sucked off from the interior of the drum through the ports H, the space l9 and a tube drawn through the attachment 1 to the suction pump I4 as indicated by arrows. Around the circumference of the drum and at suitable interspaces thereon rows of other valves 20 are arranged that are maintained open by springs or other means when they are covered by the material treated in the drum, but are closed by means of suitable control members 2| when they are on a level above said material. 'Ihus, air will be sucked through said valves and through the material treated for ventilating it, for example to remove carbon dioxide and steam and admit oxygen when the drum is used for malt germinating purposes. The admission of air is, however, so adapted that no mentionable cooling is eifected by the air thus admitted. The cooling is instead effected indirectly by means of the cooling medium flowing through the elements 4 and 5, the shell I and the heads 2 and 3. By this means it is insured that the conditions necessary for a regular germination are maintained at the same time as a drying out of the material is prevented.

According to the invention the shelf-like elements 4 are arranged in a plurality of rows concentric with the circumference of the drum. In the embodiment according to Figs. 1 and 2, the elements have, as shown, a rather considerable extension in the peripheral direction. To make possible in spite thereof a perfect stirring of the material treated so that the material is allowed to move in accordance with the changes of the state of equilibrium of the material arising at the rotation of the drum, the elements are crossed by transverse channels of passage 22. At suitable places between the elements 4 there are also arranged one or several radial or substantially radial elements 5, which do not necessarily need to be crossed by channels of passage for the material treated, if the material is very delicate, such as malt during germination, and therefore should be protected from a direct fall motion of mentionable extension.

In order to increase the cooling surfaces, additional partition walls 35 may be inserted in the drum at suitable distances apart. Said partition walls are provided with chambers passed by the medium, said chambers communicating with the elements 4 and 5. The partition walls extend to the shell of the drum and may thus wholly support the elements 4 and 5. To avoid obstructing the diametrical feed channel provided according to the invention, said additional partition walls 35 are suitably each made in two halves. The edges of said halves facing each other should be separated by a distance corresponding to the desired width of the feed channel, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

24 is a motor driving the drum, which is supported by rollers 25, by means of a pinion 25 being in mesh with a toothed ring 21 provided on the drum. The rotation of the drum may be continuous in one direction or oscillating.

In the embodiment according to Figs. 3 and 4, l is the shell of the drum and 2 and 3 its doublewalled heads. In this embodiment, however, the elements 4 and 5 consist of tubes, alternatively flattened tubes, or other similar members with a small cross-section so that channels of passage 22 are formed between the different elements. One part of the elements is, as illustrated, arranged in a plurality of rows concentric with the circumference of the drum, and another part of the elements are arranged perpendicularly or somewhat inclined towards the former and directed against or substantially against the centre of the drum. The elements are at the same time so arranged that when the openings 29 with their closures 28 are turned directly upwards and thus are in the charging position, the drum obtains a free diametrical feed channel 30 allowing an unobstructed filling of the drum to the desired extent.

The heating medium is conveyed to the space 9 in the head 2. of the drum by means of the conduit 6 and is distributed from there to the different elements 5 and 6 that open into said space with one of their ends. The opposite ends of the elements 4 and 5 communicate with the space ID in the head 3, and from there the heating me- 5 dium is conveyed to the space H in the shell I of the drum from where the medium is led off through the tubes I2 and I3 connected to the discharge pipe 3|. The gases, air, steam, etc., removed from the material during the drying are sucked oil from the room [9 that communicates with the interior of the drum by way of the ports I! arranged in the head 2 and covered by strainers.

To prevent in this embodiment the elements 15 from being bent or torn loose from the heads, owing to the length of the elements and their considerable elongation due to the heat, the head 2 may be loosely inserted in the drum so that said head which forms a distributor for the 20 heating medium is able to participate in the elongations of the elements due to temperature variations.

In case it is not desired to directly connect the difierent elements or groups of elements to the 2 space formed in the double-walled heads, they may instead be connected to suitably arranged and dimensioned boxes of distribution which may be connected to the spaces in the hollow heads by means of flexible or elastic tubes or conduits. 30

Having now particularly described the nature of my invention and the manner of its operation, what I claim is:

1. A rotatable drum provided interiorly with hollow shelf-like elements extending in the longitudinal direction of the drum and forming passages for the fiow of a heating or cooling medium, and wherein one part of the shelf-like elements are arranged in one or several rows concentric with the circumference of the drum, and another part of said elements are arranged in rows that extend from the circumference and are directed substantially towards the center of the drum, the last-named elements being adapted to force all of the material treated to participate in the stirring motion eil'ected by the drum, the shelflike elements being also arranged to form a free, diametrical feed channel for the material to be treated in the charging position of the drum allowing an unobstructed filling of the drum to the desired extent.

2. A rotatable drum provided interiorly with hollow, shelf-like elements extending in the longitudinal direction of the drum and forming passages for the flow of a heating or cooling medium, and wherein one part of the shelf-like elements is arranged in one or several rows concentric with the circumference of the drum, and another part of said elements is arranged in rows that extend from the circumference and are directed substantially towards the center of the drum, the last-named elements being adapted to force all of the material treated to participate in the stirring motion efiected by the drum, the shelflike elements being also arranged to form a free, 65 radial feed channel for the material to be treated in the charging position of the drum so as to allow an unobstructed filling of the drum to the desired extent, which drum is also provided at one end with a distributing box for the heating or cooling medium which is connected to said hollow shelf-like elements and axially movable with respect to said drum.

3. A rotatable drum provided interiorly with hollow, shelf -like elements extending in the longitudinal direction of the drum and forming passages for the flow of a heating or cooling medium, and wherein one part of the shelf-like elements is arranged in one or several rows concentric with the circumference of the drum, and another part of said elements is arranged in rows that extend from the circumference and are directed substantially towards the center of the drum, the last-named elements being adapted to force all 10 of the material treated to participate in the stirring motion effected by the drum, the shelflike elements being also arranged to form a. free, radial feed channel for the material to be treated in the charging position of the drum so as to allow an unobstructed filling of the drum to' the desired extent, which drum is also provided interiorly with additional hollow partition walls suitably spaced apart and through which said heating or cooling medium passes.

AUGUSTLNUS EDVARD JONSSON. 

